


Flower Power

by rabid_plotbunny



Series: Fly [2]
Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Alternate Universe, Gen, Pre-Nibelheim Incident, crack!fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-03
Updated: 2019-02-03
Packaged: 2019-10-21 11:10:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,525
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17641649
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rabid_plotbunny/pseuds/rabid_plotbunny
Summary: "Fly" Side-story. Not long after arriving at the orphanage, Sephiroth finds himself drafted for something he would never have expected.





	Flower Power

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on IJ/LJ 03-01-2008

**Title:** Flower Power  
**Author:** SkyFire (rabid_plotbunny on IJ/LJ)

 **Fandom:** FFVII  
**Rating:** G  
**Summary:** Not long after arriving at the orphanage, Sephiroth finds himself drafted for something he would never have expected.  
**Length:** 1517 words

 **Warnings:** crack!fic. AU.

 **Notes:** Cheer-up fic for LJ's delaese (Magic Rat), set in my _Fly_ storyline. Hope you like it, love! ;P

 

Kate looked up from her paperwork at the sounds coming from the hallway; sounds that grew progressively louder with each passing second.

Stomp. StompstompstompstompSTOMP.

She set her pen aside, sat back in her chair, folded her hands together in her lap, and waited.

She didn't have to wait long.

He walked straight in through the open door of he office, silver hair a flowing banner down his back, blue-green eyes almost glowing with barely-suppressed irritation. A sheet of paper was held in a deathgrip in one hand. By the sight of the torn upper corners, she guessed it had been ripped off of whichever announcement board it had been posted to.

She bit back a sigh; he'd been with them for less than a week, and already she knew that things would never be quite the same after he left. Certainly a small, yet slowly-expanding group of children adored him, had taken to mimicking some of his behavior patterns.

Ah, well. They could have worse role-models.

“Sephiroth,” she greeted calmly. “Can I help you with someth-”

“What is this?” he demanded, holding up the paper.

She cocked her head, squinted slightly. “It seems to be one of the cast lists for the children's theatre in a few weeks. Why?”

“ _Why_ is my name on it?”

“The theatre is made up of plays performed by groups of our wards, everyone is in them. Is there a problem?”

“I have no desire to be in this... this pointless display.”

“As I said, everyone is in them. No exceptions. Think of it as a... what do they call it? Oh, yes. A 'team-building exercise'. Which play are you in?”

A quick glance down at the paper, as if hoping the words would have changed since the last time he saw them. It didn't work; still the damning words were there, laughing up at him in immovable inky boldness. “ _'Little Red Riding Hood'_ ,” he growled.

“And you'll be...?”

“'Flower #3'.” It was an almost-unintelligible mumble, blue-green eyes looking _anywhere_ but at her.

“Ah. Well, I'll look forward to seeing that. I'm sure you'll make a great flower.”

“I'm almost seven feet tall.” It was a last-ditch attempt to get out of the humiliation he was sure would follow, and sounded pathetic even to his own ears.

It bounced ineffectively off an invisible barrier born from continuously dealing with children using 'puppy eyes'.

“You'll do fine,” she assured yet again. Then she straightened, once again picking up her pen. “Now, unless there was something else...?”

A muscle in his cheek jumped as he grit his teeth. Then he turned, leaving her office without another word.

***

Sephiroth closed the back cover of the copy of the play he'd been given, sat back in his chair and let it sink in. On the floor in front of him, his unofficial class worked on their strategies for the latest tactical simulation.

The play, he decided after a long moment's thought, offended his pride in two major ways. First because of his role as a seven-foot flower, and secondly because as such he had no lines at all. Humiliating as the attention gleaned from _having_ dialogue might be, being expected to fade quietly into the background was something he'd never been expected to do. All his life, he'd always been at the forefront of whatever endeavor he'd been involved in. He didn't know how to be otherwise.

“Sephiroth?” one of the children asked.

He looked over. “Yes?”

“You're in _Little Red Riding Hood_ , too?”

“...Yes.”

A quick round of 'me, too!'s from a surprising percentage of the informal class eased a little of his concern. At least he already _knew_ these, knew that they were at least competent. He didn't know how he'd react if he had to suffer the humiliation amongst strangers.

A considering pause from the first child, then: “You don't look too happy.”

“...No. This play. I...”

“Who are you?”

A small pause, then a near-silent, resigned sigh. “I'm a flower.”

Quiet giggles from all around didn't help his wounded pride any.

“That's just silly,” one of the other children said, looking up from carefully-crayoned battle plans. “You're too... _wow_... to be a flower.”

“He's right. You can't be a flower,” yet another agreed. A mischievous look spread across his face. “Hey, 'member what you said? That if you don't like how things are going, change 'em?”

“Yes...?” Sephiroth agreed, intrigued despite himself. The children had surprised him with their unfettered ideas before. How was the child planning to apply the lesson he'd taught to the current situation...?

“Well, what if we change the story, just a little?” A small pause. When the idea wasn't immediately rejected, he took up a crayon, drew a simple flower on a fresh sheet of construction paper. “Like, you can be a flower. _Or_ , you could be...” He added a few more details, then held the page up for display.

Sephiroth grinned despite himself at the new design. Yes, the children had managed to surprise him yet again.

“I'll go get a pencil and some paper and we'll re-write the play,” he agreed. “But first, what have you all come up with for our little battle here...?”

***

Zack walked the familiar orphanage hallways, making his way toward the gym-slash-auditorium where the plays were being performed. He'd heard about the event on a previous visit, then badgered Seph until the silver-haired man admitted he was in one. Try as he might, though, he couldn't get one more word out of him, save for a smug 'You'll see' or 'It's a secret'.

Well, he'd found out _which_ play he was in from one of the children, but not a single word more. The kids had clearly been hanging out with the secretive General too long. Ah, well. A goofy grin. Perhaps Seph had been cast as Red and was embarrassed to admit it.

That didn't explain the smirk, though....

From that moment forward, there was _nothing_ that would keep him from seeing that play. He'd even traded shifts with another First so he'd be able to make it.

He managed to find a seat near the middle of the crowd, sat down. He watched the end of the current play, a quick glance at his watch and then the schedule confirming that Seph's group was up next.

The play ended and everyone clapped politely, then Kate walked onto the middle of the stage, the curtains swooshing closed behind her, schedule in one hand.

“And that was the classic _'The Little Chocobo that Could'_. Up next is _'Little Red Riding Hood'_. Please pay attention, I know they've been working especially hard on it.”

She left the stage to more polite applause and the curtains swooshed open again.

One of the children, dressed in a tree costume, walked up to the middle of the stage, spoke into the expectant hush. “About the play. We talked it over and decided to change it a bit since it was kinda boring and some things were just silly. So this is the new version. We hope you like it.”

As that child was joined on-stage by a few other kids in costume, Zack had a feeling Sephiroth was all over the play's unexpected change. A quick look to Kate told him she didn't have any more of an idea what was going on than _he_ did.

Ah, well.

He sat back, relaxing as much as he could into the uncomfortable chair, and prepared to be entertained.

Too bad they weren't serving popcorn.

***

He wasn't disappointed.

He nearly choked trying to keep the laughter in at his first sight of Seph several minutes into the play, kneeling on the stage between two other children, all of them dressed in green, flower petals a corona around their faces.

The kid playing Red walked over, looked at the 'flowers', and gasped. “Maybe Grandma would like some pretty flowers!”

Zack almost fell off his seat as Sephiroth peeled off a layer of petals to reveal a second layer, only each petal had a toothy mouth drawn on it – he wasn't a flower, he was a ferocious marlboro!

He watched, eyes wide, as Seph 'chased' Red around the stage, finally cornering her against a 'tree'. He watched as Red took a stick from the friendly and helpful tree, then chased _Sephiroth_ around the stage and – _was that the Omnislash?!_

After Seph's dramatic demise, Red took his 'petals' back to the little town and exchanged them for a basket of 'gil', then she and her Grandma moved to Mideel and lived happily ever after.

The audience was quiet for a moment at curtain-close, then the enthusiastic applause echoed throughout the orphanage.

In the heart of the chaos, Zack grinned. Man, was _he_ glad he hadn't forgotten his camera-phone!

**END**


End file.
